1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a connector, and more particularly to a connector for a card-type electronic component, such as a memory card.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there has been proposed a card connector including a housing and an ejection mechanism (see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2003-217738.
The housing has an upper half portion and a lower half portion. The upper half portion and the lower half portion are connected to thereby form an accommodating space for accommodating a card.
The ejection mechanism ejects the card accommodated in the accommodating space. The ejection mechanism is comprised of an ejection plate, a tension spring, a rod, a heart cam, and a leaf spring.
The ejection plate has a front end formed with an engaging portion. The rear end of the ejection plate is formed with a pressing portion. The ejection plate is accommodated in the accommodating space, and is supported by the housing in a manner movable in directions in which the card is inserted into and ejected from the accommodating space. The card inserted into the accommodating space is brought into abutment with the pressing portion for engagement with the same. At this time, the engaging portion is engaged with a cutout formed in a side surface of the card, for engagement with the card.
The tension spring has one end fixed to the housing. The other end of the tension spring is connected to a connecting portion of the ejection plate. Thus, the ejection plate is urged in the ejecting direction of the card.
The rod has opposite ends each bent into an L-shape. One end of the rod is connected to the connecting portion of the ejection plate, and the other end thereof is inserted into a cam groove of the heart cam, described hereinafter.
The heart cam has the cam groove having a heart-like shape, and is formed in the lower half portion of the housing. The engagement between the cam groove of the heart cam and the other end of the rod causes the card to be locked or ejected whenever a card inserted into the accommodating space of the housing is pushed in the inserting direction of the card.
When no card is inserted into the accommodating space of the housing, the ejection plate is positioned at the foremost part of the accommodating space (toward the opening of the accommodating space). At this time, the other end of the rod is positioned at a first bent point (position corresponding to a lower end of a heart-like shape) of the cam groove.
When a card is inserted into the accommodating space, the front end of the card is brought into abutment with the pressing portion of the ejection plate, and the engaging portion of the ejection plate is engaged with the cutout of the card, whereafter the ejection plate is moved together with the card.
When the card advances by a predetermined distance in the accommodating space, the other end of the rod is brought into abutment with a second bent point (position corresponding to a right upper end of the heart-like shape) of the cam groove. At this time, the ejection plate is positioned at the rearmost part of the accommodating space, and even if the card is further pushed, it is not moved.
When a user's hand is taken off the card, the ejection plate is moved in the card ejecting direction by the tension spring, but the other end of the rod is moved away from the second bent point for engagement with the cam groove at a third bent point thereof (position corresponding to the center of an upper portion of the heart-like shape), so that the motion of the ejection plate in the card ejecting direction is stopped. At this time, the card is urged by the pressing portion of the ejection plate, and is stopped after being slightly moved in the card ejecting direction.
In this state, when the card is urged again deeply into the accommodating space, the motion of the card is transmitted to the rod via the ejection plate, whereby the other end of the rod is moved away from the third bent point, and is brought into abutment with a fourth bent point of the cam groove (position corresponding to an upper left end of the heart-like shape), so that even if the card is pushed further, the card is not moved. At this time, the ejection plate is positioned at the rearmost part of the accommodating space.
When the user's hand is taken off the card, the other end of the rod is moved away from the fourth bent point such that it can move to the first bent point within the cam groove, and hence the ejection plate is moved in the card ejecting direction by the tension spring. At this time, the card is urged by the pressing portion of the ejection plate, and is moved in the card ejecting direction.
When the ejection plate is moved by a predetermined distance in the card ejecting direction, the pressing portion of the ejection plate is brought into abutment with part of the housing, and is stopped. At this time, although an inertia force acts on the card, and the card is about to jump out of the accommodating space, the card is stopped together with the ejection plate with part thereof protruded from the accommodating space since the engaging portion of the ejection plate is engaged with the cutout of the card. As a result, the card is prevented from jumping out of the accommodating space during ejection of the card.
The card is locked by the engaging portion of the ejection plate by so-called half-locking which enables the card to be unlocked by applying a force in the card ejecting direction to the card. Therefore, if the part of the card protruded from the accommodating space is pulled, the card can be drawn out from the accommodating space.
In the above-described connector, when the accommodating space has no card inserted therein, the engaging portion of the ejection plate is positioned in the vicinity of an opening of the accommodating space.
Therefore, when a card is inserted into the accommodating space obliquely with respect to the card inserting/ejecting direction, a corner of a front end of the card is brought into contact with the engaging portion, which can cause damage of the engaging portion.